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w o m e n ’s b a s k e t b a l l
Sykes’ heroic, game-winning shot garners national attention By David Wilson ASST. SPORTS EDITOR
Brittney Sykes stayed up until 3 a.m. the night after Syracuse beat St. John’s, waiting to see her half-court game-winner on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” Top 10. There was hockey, middle school, high school and professional basketball. The numbers counted down. Sykes started to worry her miracle heave didn’t make the cut. Then the anchor said Syracuse. “I turned my head and immediately I called my mom,” Sykes said. “I was like, ‘Mom, I made No. 1!’ It was amazing. I called my dad, I think I called everybody in my phone book.” The guard’s game-winning half-court shot gave the Orange a 60-57 win against the Red Storm in Queens, N.Y., on Wednesday. Immediately, the shot started making waves throughout the SU community, starting on social media and culminating with its appearance on “SportsCenter.” During his time with the Orange, head coach Quentin Hillsman has been on the other side of
deflating losses. This time, though, he had the opportunity to celebrate. “It’s cool to be on the right side of that,” Hillsman said. “Obviously it’s good for our team, it’s good for everything that we’ve done and we work really hard and the girls really compete at a high level and to have them get some national notoriety is great.” For a team that’s been largely out of the spotlight but performing admirably, Hillsman hopes this will put more people in the Carrier Dome seats. The Orange hasn’t had more than 783 fans in the stands since its season opener against Farleigh Dickinson. The highlight, paired with Syracuse’s steady ascension up and into the rankings, makes an Orange women’s basketball ticket the most appealing it’s been in recent memory. But it may not have been possible without the shot topping the Top 10. And that wouldn’t have been possible without the way the play started. A half-court shot would almost certainly find its way onto the list, but this was no ordinary half-court game-winner.
With 2.8 seconds remaining, Syracuse was playing for overtime. Hillsman just wanted his team to play tough man-to-man defense. Sykes did just that, and it ended up paying off with a steal. In just a matter of seconds she was able to come away with the ball and get off a shot. “The awareness for her to actually get a shot off and not take too many dribbles and not have a chance for us to win the ball game was the most important thing,” Hillsman said. Kayla Alexander and Phylesha Bullard were sitting in Goldstein Student Center on South Campus, attempting to do homework when the Top 10 came on. Like Sykes, Alexander got worried as the countdown ticked and Syracuse wasn’t on it. When they saw it was No. 1, the two started “creating a ruckus” and making people around them mad with their raucous celebration. “You always see those on ‘SportsCenter’ Top 10, you always see it happening to other people,” Alexander said. “I’ve never experienced or been part of it, so that to happen to my teammate – wow – that’s one of — that is the highlight of my
senior year so far.” When the shot actually happened, aside from Sykes, it was Carmen Tyson-Thomas who had the best reaction, Sykes said. When the shot fell through the net, Tyson-Thomas was the first one to grab Sykes. Any photos of the celebration show Tyson-Thomas in every shot. “All we hear is a bunch of screaming, yelling, and then we see Brittney running on the court and we see that the score changes,” TysonThomas said. “It’s just all very quick, just all in one moment.” Though the Orange dropped its next game at Villanova on Saturday, it’s still a seasondefining moment for SU. Syracuse is amid one of its most successful seasons in recent memory, but was still without a true takeaway moment. On Wednesday, Sykes’ miracle shot gave the Orange just that. “No one ever expects something like that to happen,” Tyson-Thomas said, “so when it does happen, everyone’s elated and it’s a big thing.” dbwilson@syr.edu @DBWilson2
ice hock ey
Inconsistent scoring forces Syracuse to reconsider offensive game plan By David Lauterbach STAFF WRITER
At times, Syracuse hasn’t been able to score. All season long, it hasn’t been able to score consistently. When a team struggles to score, it has to change things, and that’s just what the Orange has tried to do. “We just got to get ugly goals and take pride in that,” head coach Paul Flanagan said. “I don’t know if some of these kids think it has to be tictac-toe because we’re playing a young team, but we can’t play that way, we’re just not that good.” Its four-game winning streak aside, Syracuse (14-11-1, 8-3-1 College Hockey America) has lost multiple games due to its inconsistent offense. In its last eight games, the Orange has scored two or more goals four times, and one or no goals four times. Last weekend against Penn State, SU scored just five times in two games. They scored 10 goals against the Nittany Lions in October. Earlier this month against Mercyhurst and Cornell, Syracuse was held to two goals in a three-game span. The team has attributed part of its poor offensive performances to its inability to score
on the power play throughout the season. The team is 17-for-119 on power play opportunities. Mercyhurst, which the Orange trails by three points in the CHA standings, is 35-for-133. A three-game home stand against RIT and Rensselaer, in which SU outscored its opponents 10-1, was a step in the right direction for Syracuse. “Our coach mentioned that we should start doubling our scores,” said forward Melissa Piacentini. “It was good to follow through with that.” But since that stretch of games, SU scored more than three goals in consecutive games only once. In the 12 games since, Syracuse has scored two or fewer goals in consecutive games three times. “I don’t know what you have to do to wake them up because it’s all upstairs,” Flanagan said. “We got to learn some lessons. And the one good thing I can say is that this team usually responds.” After scoring only three goals in three games against Mercyhurst and Cornell one weekend, the Orange scored 10 goals combined in two games against Lindenwood the next. SU’s decrease in scoring since the beginning
of the season is partly due to the loss Laurie Kingsbury. Prior to suffering a concussion, she tallied five goals and four assists. “If you look at our statistics, we don’t have any natural goal-scorers, we don’t have any real offensive threat.” Flanagan said. “The one goalscorer we have isn’t with us anymore.” Since Kingsbury went down, Flanagan moved defender Jacquie Greco to forward. Greco has scored eight goals, which ties her for third on the team. “We have a dynamic group of forwards out there, I mean I’m a defenseman and I’m out there at forward, and it’s either we’re on or we’re off,” Greco said. “I think when we’re on, we’re really on and when we get one or more we just keep rolling.” Greco cited the team’s 8-1 win against Lindenwood as an example. The Orange started off scoring four in the first period, including two from leading scorer Shiann Darkangelo. In the second period, the team scored three, then topped it off with one in the third. On Saturday, multiple teams from the Northeast played at Tennity Ice Pavilion. Flanagan said he got to the rink at 7 a.m. to watch some of his recruits play.
Flanagan said earlier in the day, one of the recruits had a hat trick. The head coach said players like her and another recruit from Western Canada that leads her team in scoring should create positive competition next season. Shortly after, Flanagan pointed over to Holly Carrie-Mattimoe, who is playing in her final season at SU. “We’re going to miss the curly-headed one over here,” said Flanagan. Carrie-Mattimoe has nine goals and 10 assists this season. The senior is also SU’s alltime leading scorer and a captain. Mattimoe said making smarter shots could help the team succeed in the future. “I think we need to focus on finding the lanes to the net and not shooting into them,” CarrieMattimoe said. Because this is her last year, Carrie-Mattimoe feels like she is under pressure to help her team succeed. “Going out with a bang, having a good end to my career, I mean there is a little bit of pressure,” Carrie-Mattimoe said. “To go far in that tournament would be a huge thing.” dlauterb@syr.edu